Pakistan security forces strike militant hide-outs, 10 dead

ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan's security forces pounded two militant hide-outs, killing at least 10 insurgents, in their strongest response yet to a month of anti-government attacks.

Yesterday's assault by artillery and helicopter gunships "knocked out" two compounds in Daygan village in the tribal belt near the border with Afghanistan that were being used as staging posts for attacks on security forces, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said.

Ten militants were killed and at least seven others wounded in the operation about 15 kilometers west of Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan region, he said. Three or four civilians also were wounded, officials said.

No ground troops were used in the operation and the report on militant casualties was based on information from local sources, he said, without elaborating.

The Daygan assault appeared to be the toughest military action since troops withdrawn from the tribal zone in September 2006 began to be redeployed there early last month, after a controversial peace deal with pro-Taliban militants to maintain local security collapsed.

Since then, attacks on government forces have surged and more than 360 people have been killed, including at least 102 who died in an army raid last month on Islamabad's radical Red Mosque. Militants have vowed to avenge those deaths.

Arshad said the clash lasted about four hours as militants and security forces exchanged heavy and small arms fire.

A local security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of his job, said a stray mortar had hit a home in Miran Shah, injuring three or four people.

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